Occupancy planning: adapting your physical workplace to modern work
August 14, 2024
September 27, 2024
87% of businesses worldwide now offer employees hybrid work arrangements. This shift has drastically impacted the role and use of physical offices and made occupancy planning even more relevant. How have you adapted to this change?
As our approach to work changes and flexibility becomes more common, it's important for workspaces to continue to appeal to and be useful to employees. However, it can be challenging to keep track of how many people are coming to the office and how much space is being used daily. Technology is crucial as it allows CRE managers to analyze data and make well-informed decisions.
Do you want to learn more about occupancy planning and how to future-proof your workspace while optimizing it and saving costs? This includes space utilization analysis, adjustments to new working styles, workplace technology, on-site employee experience, and implementing hot desking. Then, let's dive in!
What is occupancy planning?
Definition of occupancy planning
Occupancy planning involves strategizing and managing space allocation within a building to maximize efficiency and accommodate your current and future needs. It focuses on understanding how your space is used by forecasting upcoming space requirements and planning for changes in occupancy to support organizational objectives and improve utilization. This process helps ensure that physical spaces align with your business strategies, promote productivity, reduce costs, and adapt to your workforce's evolving needs or growth.
Core aspects of occupancy planning: from optimization to experience and technology
There are many aspects that CRE managers must consider to create a working environment that fulfills both the company’s and the employees’ expectations while optimizing the space and saving costs. For example, they have to take into account and analyze:
- working policies for in-office, hybrid, asynchronous schedules, 2-3 days model…);
- office space design;
- employee experience and expectations;
- workplace technology and data.
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Occupancy planning today: the impact of hybrid work
Occupancy planning has become increasingly complex over the years as our ways of working have become more flexible. With fewer employees in the physical workplace daily, the office's role and use have significantly changed.
Studies worldwide show that hybrid employees come to the office 2 to 3 days a week.
This doesn’t mean they all come on the same day. Actually, only 15% of companies require workers in the office on fixed days)1. Consequently, not all the working space is used every day.
Managing these office occupancy fluctuations and the new purpose of the office is a top priority for organizations today.
Why is analyzing and planning office space occupancy crucial?
Adapting corporate real estate to new ways of working
Employees’ use of the office has changed. Lines of single desks no longer match our way of working and the expectations of a modern workforce. Clinging to a traditional office space setup also means that half of your workspace is unused or does not meet your workers’ needs to thrive. Adapting your corporate real estate to new ways of working is, therefore, essential to keep your workplace relevant, attractive, and welcoming.
👉 Learn nine ways to make the office more welcoming and see your colleagues more often on-site!
Maximizing office use and reducing wasted space
Keeping one single desk per employee would waste space and resources, as they wouldn't be used daily. Hot desk offices are on the rise, allowing organizations to provide fewer desks for the same number of employees. This workspace management solution perfectly matches the hybrid workforce's needs. However, providing several types of workspaces for team members to choose from is the most trendy and requested office change. Today, more than ever, people come on-site to work on collaborative tasks more than individual ones and to connect with their colleagues. Meeting rooms, huddle spaces, collective areas, and other modern workspace types must also be part of your work environment.
Saving costs
Who doesn't want to save costs? Whether you are a small company or a big corporation, reducing expenses is a goal for everyone. Occupancy planning helps you find solutions by pinpointing areas for improvement and optimizing your workspace. For example, downsizing your office to match your actual space needs is one of the many ways to cut off some expenses, thanks to occupancy planning. But it's not just about saving money. It's also about creating revenue by building a physical work environment that fosters collaboration, creativity, innovation, and engagement.
👋 Try our hybrid office calculator and discover where to save costs in your workplace!
How do you successfully plan office occupancy?
Work as a team
It all starts with a collaborative approach. CRE leaders must collaborate with Facility managers, IT specialists, workspace designers, Human Resources, and other departments. By combining this collective expertise, they can holistically optimize office space. Each team member brings unique insights about infrastructure best practices, technology, employee needs, and design aesthetics. By tackling this challenge collectively, you ensure that the planning process addresses multiple facets of the work environment to enhance efficiency and employee experience.
Use modern technology and data to make informed decisions
Successful occupancy planning involves leveraging modern technology and robust data analytics. Integrating tools such as IoT sensors, space utilization software, and AI-driven analytics gives you crucial insights into how your space is used in real-time. This data-driven approach empowers you to make informed decisions and craft strategies to optimize spatial resources, meet your employees' needs, and adapt to changing workplace dynamics.
📆 Start a free trial of the deskbird app to see how technology can help you improve occupancy planning while improving employee experience and saving costs!
Watch out for the trends of the future of work
Occupancy planning is about optimizing the workspace to reduce costs, but it is also about ensuring the office environment continues to match and answer your staff's needs. To achieve this goal, staying attuned to emerging trends in the future of work and their implications for office space is fundamental. By understanding shifts in our working methods (remote work, asynchronous schedules, distributed teams...), you can better anticipate and adapt to evolving demands. This proactive mindset ensures that the office environment is flexible and agile enough to accommodate the workforce's needs in a dynamic, ever-changing professional landscape.
Consider company scalability goals
Scalability is a major topic when it comes to office occupancy. Anticipating the growth or contraction of the organization enables smoother transitions and modifications to the office environment. By planning with scalability in mind, you can ensure that the workspace can efficiently be expanded or reconfigured. This allows you to prevent costly and time-consuming restructuring and maintain operational continuity as the business evolves.
Get your employees' feedback
Occupancy planning is crucial in creating a thriving work environment where employees can find what they need to work in the best conditions. To learn more about this topic, read our article about the impact of office layout on productivity. Yet, it also improves employee experience, satisfaction, engagement, talent attraction, and retention. We highly recommend getting your staff's feedback regarding your physical workplace and how to enhance it. The best approach for a successful occupancy planning strategy is to combine your office data and your employees' feedback.
Use the “test and learn” technique
Once you've better understood the steps to improve your physical work environment, the "test and learn" method is the best way to validate the effectiveness of your occupancy planning strategy. Start by implementing small-scale changes, gather data on their impact, and analyze their outcomes. This iterative process allows you to refine your strategy based on practical proof of what works and what doesn't. By continuously testing and learning, you can make informed adjustments, ensuring that your occupancy planning remains aligned with the evolving needs of your organization and its workforce.
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How does the deskbird app help you regarding occupancy planning?
Get clear workspace analytics reports
The deskbird app helps companies with occupancy planning by providing precise office analytics. Our tool gathers data about office use and occupancy to help you make informed decisions about your workspace management. For example, it tells you how many desks and meeting rooms are booked per day. This allows you to adjust the number of workspaces according to your real needs.
Use the hybrid office calculator
deskbird has also created a hybrid office calculator to help you determine your ideal desk-employee ratio and stop wasting space. Within a few clicks, you know exactly how many single desks your workspace should include according to the size of your office, your number of team members, and your work policy.
Give your employees access to the types of workspaces they crave for
The deskbird app is a workspace booking software. It enables your staff to reserve the shared desks, meeting rooms, huddle spaces, and even car spots that they want when they come on-site. Not only does our solution ensure they have a workspace, but it also ensures they get the work environment they need to perform their tasks of the day.
Manage your hybrid workspace efficiently
The deskbird app includes many other features designed to support employees and companies in making the most of their hybrid work environment. From our interactive floor plan to the week planning and the office event feature, our intuitive technology is a key tech ally for anyone evolving in a flexible work setup.
Occupancy planning has never been more important in the world of work. As our working patterns evolve, so does office space and its purpose. CRE and Facility managers have new challenges to tackle. Teaming up with other departments and technology is crucial to succeeding in their space utilization analysis and strategy.
Request a free demo of the deskbird app to try our key features and enhance a people-centric, dynamic, and agile work environment!
1 Global Occupancy Planning Benchmarking Report 2024, JLL.
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